


8th Note Fills

by tfm



Series: The Exandria Sessions [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29510007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfm/pseuds/tfm
Summary: Prior to the start of term, Beau gets an email inviting her to tour the History Department at the University of Zadash. Yasha comes too.One-shot sequel to Ghost Notes.More one-shots to come.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Series: The Exandria Sessions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154504
Comments: 5
Kudos: 93





	8th Note Fills

8 th  Note Fills

Beauregard Lionett stared at her bed, and the open suitcase lying on it. It was Jester’s suitcase, bright pink and covered in stickers of unicorns. It looked like it should have belonged to a ten-year-old girl on her first overseas holiday, not to an eighteen-year-old flying to Zadash for a very important meeting.

Beau had a suitcase, but it was somewhere at her parents house, gathering dust. Maybe they’d even given it to TJ. In any case, until Beau could get a new one, she was using Jester’s. At least there was a pretty decent chance this wouldn’t get lost; it would be impossible for the baggage handlers to lose sight of it.

Things had happened quickly. Beau had been content to spent the first few weeks of summer break lazing around for a bit, letting herself relax after a year of putting in a hundred and ten percent effort. There were trips to the beach, and walks along the cliffs, and more than a few trips to the combo arcade/pizza parlor on the pier.

About a week into that extended holiday, Beau got an email from the a member of the history department of the University of Zadash, after they’d been forwarded her admissions essay.

It was the last paragraph of the email that had Beau reading and rereading it, as though trying to convince herself it was real.

_I found your paper on the_ _annexing of the Cognouza and the fate of the Somnovum very well researched. It showed excellent command of the material, and very well-reasoned arguments. I understand that your current circumstances are unusual, however, if you would be interested in having a tour of the University (and of the history department) prior to term commencing, I would be happy to arrange for you to get here._

_Please let me know if you are interested_

_Kind Regards_

_Professor Allura Vysoren_

_History Department, University of Zadash_

Beau had kind of sort of assumed that she would pick history as her major, but it was one thing to think it, and quite another to have someone from the department email without warning. She strongly suspected involvement from Dairon, who as the guidance counselor knew a great deal more than most about Beau’s future plans, and who also seemed to have their fingers in an inordinate number of pies.

Of course Beau had to say yes. It was a fantastic opportunity, not to mention the fact that Allura Vysoren was a pretty well-renowned historian. Beau had definitely cited her papers once or twice before. For _her_ to be reaching out to Beau was just...utterly insane.

So that was how Beau found herself on a plane to Zadash, with Yasha in the seat next to her. It seemed a little gauche to ask Professor Vysoren to pay for someone else to come as well, but Yasha and Beau had both been putting in the hours at work to pay to get to Zadash before the start of term. A holiday before all of that wouldn’t be too out of the question.

Plus, it would give them an option to look at places to live, and all the other things that they’d need to figure out in a month or so’s time. Jester was still umming and aahing about what she was going to do, and Beau was sure they’d be able to find some things to draw the tiefling’s interest.

Beau was pretty sure that “the biggest library in the former Julous Dominion” was much of a selling point. Nor, admittedly, anything related to the fact that the fact that the area surrounding Zadash was one of the best locations for finding artifacts from that era. If it had been Caleb, sure, but Caleb was presently getting ready to move to Rexxentrum, much to Molly’s chagrin.

Molly, weirdly, seemed all for moving to Zadash. Probably because Zadash was a lot closer to Rexxentrum than Nicodranas was. Yasha had asked him why he didn’t just move to Rexxentrum with Caleb, but the tiefling had made muttering comments about the capital cramping his style. Beau was pretty sure he just didn’t want to be away from Yasha.

Beau wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that, but in all honesty, Molly was growing on her. It had taken her a while to figure out that his insults came from a place of love, and that if he _really_ hated her, he would just ignore her.

It probably helped that she was no longer living in a place where her parents – her father – would criticize everything from her clothes to her school marks. Being defensive became…well, a defense mechanism. Beau wasn’t sure how long it would take to get over that. She wasn’t even sure if it was something she _could_ get over quickly.

At the very least she was working on it, and having someone throw harmless insults at her sometimes probably helped.

The other thing making Beau nervous was...well, the fact that she’d never actually been on a holiday with Yasha before. Or with _anyone_ really, except her parents. Beau was maybe still a little bit afraid that if Yasha spent more than twenty-four hours alone with her, she might finally realize what a nightmare she was getting into.

_No_ , said the little voice in Beau’s head. _Yasha likes you very much, and it’s insulting to her for you to think otherwise_. It had taken her a long time (and maybe she was still kind of getting past it) to realize that her own negative self-talk wasn’t fair on anyone, least of all herself.

It would actually be kind of nice to be able to spend some time with Yasha away from Nicodranas, in a place that they’d be able to get some time to themselves. Not that Beau minded spending time with Molly and Jester. It would be a different story if Beau and Yasha had been sharing a room, but until they crossed that bridge, there was still the chance of Molly walking in on them making out in the garage, or Jester listening in under the pretense of going to the bathroom.

At least if they were living together, Beau and Yasha would potentially be sharing a room, which meant that them actually going into said room wouldn’t be any sort of indication of anything. Even still, Beau hoped that they’d be able to find a place with thick walls.

All in all, it was a pretty quiet flight. Beau got the impression that Yasha was caught up in her thoughts just as much as Beau was. For a good twenty minutes the only sound between them was the crunching of peanuts, and the sipping of water.

It was fine, though. A comfortable silence. Yasha wasn’t one to talk peoples’ ear off, so Beau had gotten used to the idea of not having to be talking for them to be simply appreciating each others’ company. It probably didn’t help that they were surrounded by people; not the best time or place for deep heart to hearts.

It wasn’t until they had landed, and picked up their luggage, and gotten a cab that they really had a chance to talk. Beau would have been perfectly happy taking the bus, but with two of them and it being Yasha’s first time away since moving to Nicodranas, a cab seemed like a better option.

‘What do you think?’ Beau asked. Yasha had been very quiet for most of their cab ride, staring out at the city in twilight, twinkling lights growing ever brighter as they got closer to the city proper.

‘I...have not been in a city this big before,’ Yasha said, finally. ‘It is...it is a lot.’

Nicodranas, for all its bustle, wasn’t huge. Port Damali was a little bigger, but it was a lot more spread out than anything in the Empire. ‘You never went to Rosohna?’ Beau knew, of course, that Yasha had been from the south of Xhorhas, a long way away from any of the major cities.

Yasha shook her head. ‘Not Rosohna, no. I did go to Asarius a few times, but that was a little different.’

Beau didn’t know much about Asarius, except that it didn’t get a hugely favorable write-up in any of the Empire newspapers. City of Beasts, they called it, on account of the large population of goblins and gnolls and bugbears. It must have been _very_ different from a place like Zadash, a city with its own complicated sort of politics. Zadash, from what Beau could tell, was also a lot denser, and given that their hotel was in the heart of the city through peak-hour traffic…

Beau reached out a hand, and Yasha grabbed for it automatically, squeezing it. Whatever else happened, at the very least they were together.

…

Their hotel room looked out over the city. After setting her bag on the bed, Yasha went to the window, and just stared for about ten minutes, watching the cars move through the streets, listening to the honking of horns, and the constant hum that seemed to come from all around. Though it was more than Yasha had ever seen (or heard) before, it was strangely peaceful. The sounds seemed to blur into the backdrop of the city. Like sitting on the beach and listening to the waves crash against the shore.

Of course, when they moved here, they would not be living in the middle of the city. The University was in what could apparently be called the suburbs of Zadash. Living out there wouldn’t be too different from living in Nicodranas, except Yasha was pretty sure any house (or apartment) that they could afford to rent wouldn’t be anywhere near as nice as Jester’s house.

Plus, they were nowhere near the beach. That was as close to a deal-breaker as anything would have been for both Yasha and Beau. The scenery surrounding Zadash was nice enough, but Yasha would miss the feeling of having sand between her toes, of having the waves wash over her ankles. It was strange, she had gone the first sixteen or so years of her life without ever seeing any body of water bigger than a large lake, and now the idea of being away from the ocean made her feel strangely sad.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with the ocean. Maybe it was the fact that Nicodranas was the first place in the world where Yasha had ever truly felt loved.

She had standing at the window for about five minutes when Beau joined her. ‘It’s a lot, huh.’ It wasn’t a question. Yasha felt a hand grip hers, and she squeezed it tightly. ‘Thanks for coming with me.’

Yasha frowned slightly. She couldn’t imagine a situation in which she _wouldn’t_ have accompanied Beau to Zadash. Even if she hadn’t been moving here to study, she didn’t want Beau to make this trip alone. People...well, people shouldn’t have to be alone.

‘It’s good for me to come now,’ was what Yasha actually said. ‘You know, so I don’t have to get used to it right before the start of term.’

‘Sure,’ Beau agreed. ‘But you know, when we’re actually _here_ here, we won’t be in the city, y’know. It’ll be a little quieter further out.’

Yasha took a bite of her taco, and chewed slowly. ‘I guess,’ she said, eventually. ‘It is that thing of ripping off the bandaid, you know? The first time I left Xhorhas it happened as well.’ There was a very long pause. It wasn’t really something that Yasha wanted to discuss just yet.

‘The town where you are from is near here, yes?’

‘About two hundred miles that way,’ Beau said, jerking her thumb off in a direction that might have been west. Yasha was generally quite good at telling direction, but without a natural landmark, it was difficult. ‘It’s kind of a shithole. Dirty, hot, and lifeless except for a shitton of grapes. Glad I never have to go back there again.’

Yasha smiled. She did not know all of what Beau’s childhood had been like, but Beau seemed a lot happier now that she was away from it. Over the last six months, Yasha had seen Beau blossom into someone far happier, far more fulfilled than she had been on the first day they had met.

They had briefly discussed the idea of having a lazy night. Of ordering room service, and finding some movie on one of the hundreds of channels that the hotel seemed to have, but that plan changed almost immediately.

The room service menu was not cheap. The only thing on there that seemed to be a reasonable price were the appetizers, and they wouldn’t last long. From the look on Beau’s face, she was thinking the same thing.

‘How about this?’ she said. ‘Let’s skip the ten gold garlic bread, and just walk around the block to that taco truck we saw on the way in. We can come straight back inside if you want.’

Yasha did not remember seeing a taco truck, but that idea did sound a lot cheaper than both of them getting a meal through room service. It was a nice, short walk for Yasha to dip her feet into the city. Even still, the idea made her strangely nervous.

‘Hey,’ Beau smiled. ‘I can hold your hand the whole time, if you want.’ Even if she hadn’t been nervous, Yasha would have wanted that.

Between them they ordered a dozen tacos of varying fillings, far too many churros, and a couple of glass bottles of soda. There was a nice park nearby that wasn’t too busy, and it wasn’t until Yasha sat down on the bench that she realized she’d been tensing.

They ate tacos and watched as the world moved around them; joggers, and people with prams, and men and women in suits on their way home from work. The tacos were pretty good; Nicodranas had better fish ones, but the others were at least as nice as you could find down on the pier.

‘What time is your meeting tomorrow?’ Yasha asked, even though she already knew the answer. Weirdly, talking about other things made everything else a little bit easier.

‘Two o’clock,’ Beau told her. ‘I thought we could maybe catch the bus out in the morning and explore around there. It’s probably way quieter than the city, and we can check out if there’s work or places for rent.’ Her voice was soft, but it still took Yasha a moment to realize that Beau was trying to reassure her.

Yasha smiled. ‘I think that is a good plan,’ she said. It was not overbearing, after all. Every moment that she spent there – especially with Beau by her side – things got a little easier.

Even still, Yasha was glad when they finished their tacos and their churros and their soda, and returned to the hotel room. The sounds were muted once more, and Yasha felt the tension ease inside of her.

They’d stopped at a Seven Eleven to pick up popcorn and drinks, and had wordlessly planned a night of Netflix and maybe some Chill. If you couldn’t make use of a nice, comfortable hotel bed while on holiday in a brand new city, then when could you?

If it was well after midnight when they finally got to sleep, then Yasha wasn’t going to tell anyone.

...

The next morning they left around eleven, after a leisurely late continental breakfast. Yasha was a little disappointed that they didn’t serve bugs, but then Beau pointed out the pancake station and she seemed to forget about bugs altogether.

It took a little bit of time for them to figure out the right bus to catch; more than a few went out to the University, but some took an express route down the Busway, and some took a very long route through the suburbs.

They got off a few stops early to meander through the shop-lined streets that led to the University.

A decent number of places seemed to have work. More, certainly, than Nicodranas. Beau supposed that a lot of the people that lived here during the term had gone home for the summer. If they moved now, it might be easier to get work than if they waited until closer to the start of term.

It wasn’t as though there were a great deal of things tying Beau to Nicodranas. The most important thing – the most important person – would be coming with her, after all. If it was just the two of them, though, money would definitely be a little tight.

Four thousand gold per year in scholarship money meant a little over eighty gold a week. The obvious thing to do would be to use that for rent, and then get a night job to cover food and other ancillary costs. With neither Jester nor Molly studying, they could feasibly be working full time (not that Beau could imagine either of them in any traditional sort of full-time job).

It was doable. It would take some finagling, but it was doable.

The bigger problem was that none of them had a car. Beau was pretty sure none of the others even had a license. The bus hadn’t been too bad, but things would definitely be easier if Beau could earn enough money to even get a beater of a car.

There was another thing on her mind, though, a thing that had her with her phone out, absent-mindedly taking picture.

‘Why are you taking so many pictures of bakeries?’ Yasha asked, finally, more than mildly amused.

‘Gonna send them to Jester,’ Beau offered. ‘If she thinks there are good bakeries here, then maybe she’ll decide to come with.’ It wasn’t that she would be heartbroken if Jester didn’t come. Mostly Beau felt a little bad about leaving her alone in Nicodranas.

‘Why don’t we buy some things from the bakeries and take pictures of those?’ Yasha asked, and it wasn’t until she said it that Beau realized just how blindingly obvious of a solution it was.

They bought far more pastries than was probably wise. A caramel tart, and a bear claw, and an apple turnover, and a chocolate brownie, in addition to a dozen beautifully decorated cupcakes. They were halfway out the door with their bags of baked goods before Beau remembered that they were probably going to have to eat these.

But first, pictures.

Beau put the nicest looking cupcake at the front. It had yellow and black stripes of icing, and a large bee that looked like it might have been made of fondant sitting on top. It was kinda cute, and exactly the sort of kitschy thing that Jester was into.

As Beau had expected, she got a reply back almost immediately. _Oh my gooooosh, get me as many as you can bring back <3 <3._

Beau stared at the dozen cupcakes, and other assorted pastries that were sitting on their street-side table. They would have to come back here in a couple of days to get some fresh ones to bring back. Beau wasn’t sure how convincing it would be to give Jester four-day old cupcakes.

It was nearing one o’clock by the time they made it to the outer buildings of the University. The campus was…big. Big in the same way that the city was big; something that Yasha had probably never experienced before. The Cobalt Soul Academy felt like a few tiny shacks in comparison to this.

There were multiple libraries and sports halls, and lecture theaters. Half a dozen different places to get lunch, or drinks, or snacks, and several grassy areas that seemed to exist just for people to sit on. Even Beau felt intimidated. Even even though she had been to Zadash before, she had spent most of her life in Kamordah and Nicodranas, neither of which were exactly enormous cities.

There was still a little bit of time to spare, so they got lunch in one of the small cafes. Because it was summer vacation, there was a skeleton staff for the faculty and the researchers and anyone else that was spending their time on campus. Things did not seem to stop just because the term was over.

Beau put the large box of cupcakes under her chair, wishing that maybe she’d waited until _after_ the meeting with Professor Vysoren to buy them. Or maybe she’d be able to palm some off onto the Professor, to make a good impression.

At a quarter to two, Beau kissed Yasha goodbye, and went off in search of the history department. She was pretty sure she was in the right area; the map had said F Block, and the cafe was in D Block, so it couldn’t have been too far away.

It didn’t take long. The building was about three stories high, and seemed to be made up mostly of classrooms and computer rooms. It was a blocky thing, made of dark brown bricks, but it seemed functional enough.

Allura Vysoren’s office was on the second floor. Unlike some of the doors, which had two or three name plates on them, Professor Vysoren’s was all on its own, which Beau took to mean that she was pretty important.

Beau took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

‘Come in,’ came a voice. Beau waited half a second, before grasping the doorknob, and going in.

She wasn’t sure what she had expected. She was so used to Dairon’s stern yet caring practicality that she was sort of expecting something similar. Or someone like Zeenoth, who had spent so long in the library all the fun had been sucked out of him.

Professor Vysoren looked to be in her early fifties, with greying blond hair that was braided down her back. She was wearing a bright blue dress that was not too dissimilar to the blue of Beau’s old school uniform. A pair of wire-rimmed glasses were perched on her nose, and she looked like she was in the middle of going through papers. ‘Beauregard?’

‘Uh, hi. Yeah.’ Beau almost tripped over herself to put a hand out for the Professor to shake. It was a nice handshake. Firm, but not to the point of pain. ‘I, uh...thanks for inviting me.’

‘Thank-you for coming. I have heard very good things about you from some former colleagues at the Academy.’ Beau raised an eyebrow at that. Both at the fact that _any_ of her former teachers might have said good things about her, and the fact that the Professor had previously worked at the Academy. ‘Well, good things about the things that count,’ she said. Beau couldn’t help but grin.

‘I’m working on the other stuff,’ she said, which was absolutely the truth. She was pretty sure she hadn’t picked up a single detention in the last few months prior to graduation, which had to have been something of a record for her. She was pretty sure the teachers had had a betting pool on how long it was going to last. ‘This is a really weird question,’ Beau said, ‘But would you like a cupcake?’ She gestured to the box in her hands. ‘I sort of maybe bought way too many and now I have to get rid of them all.’

‘Oh.’ Professor Vysoren sounded surprised. ‘Thank-you.’ She ummed and ahhed for a moment, before selecting a silvery-colored one with a dragon on it. ‘I hope this isn’t your attempt at bribing me.’ Beau was mildly taken aback for a moment, but then she saw the smile on the Professor’s face, and the twinkle in her eye.

‘I mean, if I was gonna do that, I would have at least gotten you a dozen.’ Beau let herself grin only when she saw the smile on the Professor’s face widen a little.

‘Well in any case, I’m glad you could make it.’

‘I really do appreciate the offer, Professor Vysoren.’ Beau remembered, all of a sudden, that she should have been putting her best, most professional foot forward, saying things like “thank-you,” and asking smart questions.

‘Please, call me Allura.’

Allura took Beau on a tour of the building, showing her the library with copies of some texts that had Beau salivating with desire. That took maybe half an hour, and afterwards, Allura took Beau back to her office, and went through the first year history courses with her, telling her which ones were worth taking, and which ones were requirements for a major.

‘Now Eskil Ryndarien is undisputedly an expert in his field, but I have heard from many students past that his lectures on the Ziggurats of Ioun are both punishingly difficult, and as boring as watching paint dry, but well worth taking….’ Allura’s eyes narrowed slightly. ‘This stays between us, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Beau grinned. To her, “punishingly difficult and as boring as watching paint dry” was like a challenge.

Before she knew it, though, the meeting was over. Beau felt kind of exhilarated now, both at finding someone that let her ramble on about niche history, and having a bit more of an idea about the things that she’d have to do in the coming months.

There was only one thing left to do. ‘Do you want another cupcake?’ Beau asked, offering the box. There were still about eight of them left, and they were going to go stale if Beau didn’t get rid of them.

‘Well, if you’re offering.’ Allura smiled warmly, and selected a blue and purple butterfly cupcake. ‘If anyone to ask, my wife will tell you that her favorite food is chicken, but she has been known to indulge in cupcakes from time to time.’ Beau suddenly, unconsciously straightened. It wasn’t as though there hadn’t been other same-sex couples in Nicodranas. There was just something about the casualness of the comment that somehow put Beau even more at ease.

‘Sorry,’ Beau said quickly, very aware how her reaction could have been taken. ‘My ah...my girlfriend is waiting for me in one of the cafes,’ she explained, and she couldn’t help but feel a rush of warmth move through her, the same way she always did when she thought about Yasha. Thought about the fact that she had someone she could call her girlfriend, and not feel slightly weird about it. Allura’s smile widened.

‘Well then I won’t keep you any longer,’ she said. ‘I hope to see you in some of my Introductory courses at the start of term, but even if you decide to take another path, I’m sure I will see you around.’

‘Sure,’ Beau agreed. She took the hand that was offered to her, and shook it, still feeling enormously out of depth. Here was this hugely influential historian treating her like a peer. Like she had something to offer. It was wild.

Beau was still reeling slightly when she returned to Yasha in the cafe ten minutes later. Yasha was sitting by the window, and seemed to be caught up in a staring contest with a large lizard that was lurking in the bushes outside.

‘You show that guy who’s boss,’ Beau said. She hadn’t meant to sneak up, but Yasha was so focused that she jumped anyway. ‘Sorry.’ Beau slid into the seat opposite Yasha.

Yasha smiled, which never failed to make Beau smile. It was the best kind of feedback loop. ‘How did it go?’

‘Yeah, pretty good I think. Really nice person, and like...a super clutch connection to have if I want to go down that path.’

‘Do you want to?’

‘I…’ Beau shrugged. ‘Dunno. Should at least have a look at what options are out there, right? Dabble a little bit, see what I like?’ She frowned. ‘Cos like...It’s really cool, yeah, but most of my career options would just be like...academia. Or like, writing books.’

‘You’re a pretty good writer,’ Yasha said. Beau didn’t necessarily disagree, but there was a big difference between writing high school papers, and writing groundbreaking tomes. If researching history books meant that she could travel across the world to visit cool buildings of historical significance while drinking margaritas on a beach somewhere, then that would be pretty cool too.

A lot of places these days didn’t care what your degree was in, as long as you had one. Something about having critical thinking skills, and the ability to see through a three-year stint of bad coffee, late nights, and nervous breakdowns. That was definitely something to look forward to.

Beau couldn’t help but look at Yasha, who was once more staring out at the lizard. When she realized Beau was looking at her, she smiled.

It was like the world had opened up in front of them, and Beau couldn’t wait to see what it held.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that this was going to be easier to do as a series of one-shots, rather than a series in general. So look out for the next one at one point I guess.


End file.
